Opening Day 2013: Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates, April Fool's Day

[JZsportsfan]

Our offense is pitiful. 2 guys HBP in the same inning and we don't score. Outside of our 2-4 our lineup is just atrocious. Castillo has potential at least, the rest doesn't. I would rather see Jackson struggle than DeJesus. I wish we held onto Aramis Ramirez.

 

[brett05]

Its cold. Too early to worry about the hitting

 

[nwfisch]

Our offense is pitiful. 2 guys HBP in the same inning and we don't score. Outside of our 2-4 our lineup is just atrocious. Castillo has potential at least, the rest doesn't. I would rather see Jackson struggle than DeJesus. I wish we held onto Aramis Ramirez.

 

[JZsportsfan]

Why not? He is a heck of a lot better than any 3B we have rolled out there in the past year. Baez is still at least another year away. Vitters doesn't look like he will ever be ready. I don't think I can take another 200 games of this 3B platoon

 

[Spear]

It's not a bad idea.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=rodriwa01&year=Career&t=p

Problem is that the career platoon split isn't that huge. He barely had a platoon split last year too. But every little bit helps I guess.

Its not so much about wandys splits as it is our hitters splits. Sappelt/hairston will start the vast majority of games vs lefties.

 

[Mr. Cub]

Aramis> than almost anyone on our team.

 

[85Bears4life]

Outside of Castro, Rizzo...

This Lineup is AA Material

fuckin Garbage

 

[Capt. Serious]

Outside of Castro, Rizzo...

This Lineup is AA Material

fuckin Garbage

 

[85Bears4life]

You would be too...if you were a fan of this "team"

 

[Capt. Serious]

You would be too...if you were a fan of this "team"

Just busting your chops.

 

[JZsportsfan]

Outside of Castro, Rizzo...

This Lineup is AA Material

fuckin Garbage

Yeah I completely agree. The rotation should be fairly solid this year once Garza gets back and hopefully once Baker gets back he can be a solid #5 guy. But the lineup is atrocious. Outside of the 2-4 side of Castro-Rizzo-Soriano it is complete trash. I feel like Castillo will solidify his spot and be a better than average catcher for us through the future. Barney is at least a ML caliber player but he isn't scaring anyone with his bat. This could be a long season yet again. Thankfully we have some legit prospects that make me have hope.

 

[MRubio52]

Theo is banking on some of these guys having good to great 1st half of the season...so he can trade them for decent to mediocre prospects..

That's all he is doing...

Then again this offseason...more meh players that he will trade away next season for crap....

At some point cubs cant rely on farm system to produce everyone...the Cubs WILL HAVE to sign quality FA's to fill in the gaps...Cubs are years away from contending..Hell, there years away from being .500 club

I got bad news for you, there won't be many quality FA's to be had. FAcy in baseball is dying a slow death with all the extensions. They're going to have to trade prospects for guys eventually.

 

[dabynsky]

Theo is banking on some of these guys having good to great 1st half of the season...so he can trade them for decent to mediocre prospects..

That's all he is doing...

Then again this offseason...more meh players that he will trade away next season for crap....

At some point cubs cant rely on farm system to produce everyone...the Cubs WILL HAVE to sign quality FA's to fill in the gaps...Cubs are years away from contending..Hell, there years away from being .500 club

What quality free agents are there to sign? Next year the big prize is going to be Ellsbury and Johnson, and that is assuming that they aren't locked up.

This team is dependent on Baez or Soler becoming a stud. If that happens then this will all work out. If not then it is going to be a while.

Aramis Ramirez walking netted us Pierce Johnson. I've been saying for a while now that if his arm doesn't blow up (TINSTAAP) that Johnson will shoot up the prospect lists. Johnson is probably the most interesting arm we have right now outside of Vizcaino (Maples and Underwood have higher ceilings but vastly lower floors).

 

[Jntg4]

Outside of Castro, Rizzo...

This Lineup is AA Material

fuckin Garbage

That's an insult to Jae-Hoon Ha

 

[JZsportsfan]

Theo is banking on some of these guys having good to great 1st half of the season...so he can trade them for decent to mediocre prospects..

That's all he is doing...

Then again this offseason...more meh players that he will trade away next season for crap....

At some point cubs cant rely on farm system to produce everyone...the Cubs WILL HAVE to sign quality FA's to fill in the gaps...Cubs are years away from contending..Hell, there years away from being .500 club

I agree with the fact that you need to sign FA's in addition to improving the farm. I don't think Theo really intends to trade all that many pieces because nobody on the team has value outside of the "Future core". That is referring to Castro, Rizzo, Samardzjia, and maybe Barney. Castillo is a young piece I am sure they want to see grow.

Sure they could trade some guys like DeJesus but that would require another team wanting DeJesus which I don't see happening. We could possibly be able to trade some of the starters like Villanueva or Wood but that's probably it. I don't think anyone will want Baker or Garza based on injuries or Feldman, because well he isn't very good. Soriano is the only guy I could see having any true value unless Garza gets healthy soon.

However, I think the Cubs could contend for a WC spot in 2015. Our biggest holes at the ML level are 3B, and all 3 OF spots. The good thing is are top 4 prospects could fill those positions. And 3 of those guys are upper echelon guys in Soler, Almora, and Baez. All experts rank them in the top half of the top 100 prospect lists. Now those lists are far from perfect, but is still nice to see Cubs players mentioned in the same list as some of the best prospects in the game. That hasn't happened in awhile.

We also have the #2 draft pick this year and the 2nd highest amount to spend in the draft. We should be able to get a close to ML ready SP with that #2 pick. Hopefully Appel but the Astros could easily take him. From what I hear this is a deep draft from a pitching standpoint. I think this upcoming offseason we actually may see some big spending. However, with 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, and OF taken up by our young talent in the ML or minors I don't think that will come in the lineup outside of a smaller 1 year pickup.

 

[Rice Cube]

I missed some good stuff opcorn:

 

[JZsportsfan]

All that being said I still see us finishing better than last year. I am hoping 73-89 or better

 

[daddies3angels]

Get used to what you saw last night. Cubs pitching will keep them in games but offense is going to struggle to score any runs. If Rizzo or Castro dont hit like last night they wont score very often. Team avg 1.5 runs per game and i dont expect that to go up much over the year. I be shocked if they get over 3.5 runs per game. I could pitch to this offense

Dab for Cubs future to depend on 2 guys that are prospects that could fail alot easier then succeed is scary as hell. I agree though FA going to suck so that is the only hope we have.

 

[85Bears4life]

1. David DeJesus, CF

2. Starlin Castro, SS

3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B

4. Alfonso Soriano, LF

5. Nate Schierholtz, RF

6. Dioner Navarro, C

7. Luis Valbuena, 3B

8. Brent Lillibridge, 2B

9. Travis Wood, P

Maybe more than 2 Hits today..

 

[Spear]

1. David DeJesus, CF

2. Starlin Castro, SS

3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B

4. Alfonso Soriano, LF

5. Nate Schierholtz, RF

6. Dioner Navarro, C

7. Luis Valbuena, 3B

8. Brent Lillibridge, 2B

9. Travis Wood, P

Maybe more than 2 Hits today..

Wood should be batting 6th in this lineup ity: